Stoffel, ST;
Yang, J;
Vlaev, I;
von Wagner, C;
(2019)
Testing the decoy effect to increase interest in colorectal cancer screening.
PLoS One
, 14
(3)
, Article e0213668. 10.1371/journal.pone.0213668.
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Abstract
Literature on consumer choice has demonstrated that the inclusion of an inferior alternative choice (decoy) can increase interest in a target product or action. In two online studies, we tested the impact of decoys on the probability of previous non-intenders to have a screening test which could significantly lower their chances of dying of colorectal cancer. We find that the presence of a decoy increased the probability to choose screening at the target hospital (over no screening) from 39% to 54% and 37% to 59% depending on how many hospital attributes were communicated and how strongly the decoy was dominated by the target. We also show that the presence of the decoy was associated with lower levels of reported decisional complexity while not undermining information seeking and knowledge acquisition. These findings offer a ‘proof of principle’ that decoys have the potential to increase screening uptake without negatively influencing informed choice.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Testing the decoy effect to increase interest in colorectal cancer screening |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0213668 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213668 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. - With correction dated July 10, 2019. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Multidisciplinary Sciences, Science & Technology - Other Topics, ATTRACTION, ALTERNATIVES, ROBUSTNESS, OPTIONS |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Behavioural Science and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10072444 |
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